'Terrorists' killed to impress the US

By Our Foreign Staff

12:01AM BST 01 May 2004

Seven alleged terrorists from Pakistan shot dead by Macedonian police two years ago were innocent people lured to their deaths in an attempt to win favour with the United States, the authorities said yesterday.

Police investigators said seven men, including a former interior minister and three former police commanders, had been charged with murder.

Mirjana Konteska, a police spokesman, said the Pakistanis had been smuggled into Macedonia from Bulgaria in March 2002 with the promise of help to reach western Europe before being killed. At the time, the security forces claimed to have eliminated a terrorist group plotting to attack embassies and diplomats in the capital, Skopje.

"That was an act of a sick mind," Miss Konteska said. "They lost their lives in a staged murder."

Senior police officials claimed that the seven men were killed after a police patrol was ambushed by the Pakistani group. But Miss Konteska said a forensic and ballistic investigation confirmed the action was staged.